Google Play adds direct carrier billing for Airtel and Vodafone users

New Delhi, Jan. 3 -- You will soon be able to pay for apps and service on Google Play, using your Airtel or Vodafone balance. According to reports, carrier billing is live in India for these two telcos. However, the option doesn't seem to be live for everyone at the moment. It seems to be in some kind of beta testing mode, where some users have received the option, while others haven't.
Adding the carrier billing option will make it easier for Indian users to make transactions on Google Play. This includes buying apps, movies, subscriptions, books and eventually even songs from the Play Store. The initiative was first announced by Google in October last year, at the Google Playtime event. In fact, carrier billing was first rolled out for Idea users in India.
If you're a postpaid user, the amount you spend on Google Play will be added to your monthly bill, while prepaid users will have the amount deducted from their existing balance automatically. Further, purchases on Google Play will be shown on postpaid bill statements as "Google Play Purchases".
The Google Play store has always been at the heart of the Android ecosystem. However, while paid apps are still popular overseas, India has never been a very big market for them. Adding direct carrier billing as a payments option may help with this, although it may not be a one stop solution.